The act of sleeping in a room about to be breached by a SWAT team constituted “criminal” conduct on the part of the infant. At the very least, the infant was fully liable for the nearly fatal injuries inflicted on him when Habersham County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Long blindly heaved a flash-bang grenade – a “destructive device,” as described by the ATF, that when detonated burns at 2,000-3,500 degrees Fahrenheit – into the crib.
Merely by being in that room, Bou-Bou had assumed the risk of coming under attack by a SWAT team. By impeding the trajectory of that grenade, rather than fleeing from his crib, Bou-Bou failed to “avoid the consequences” of that attack.
In any case, Bou-Bou, along with his parents and his siblings, are fully and exclusively to blame for the injuries that nearly killed the child and left the family with more than one million dollars in medical bills. The SWAT team that invaded the home in Cornelia, Georgia on the basis of a bogus anonymous tip that a $50 drug transaction had occurred there is legally blameless.
This is the defense presented by Haberham County Sheriff Joey Terrell and his comrades in their reply to a federal lawsuit filed last February on behalf of Bou-Bou Phonesavanh and his family.
Tragic event for sure....but the raid wasn't based on an "anonymous tip"...it was based on a planned buy by an informant. The parents of the kid admitted they knew drugs were being dealt from the house.
No knock raids are certainly worthy of discussion, but the parents own some responsibility here. Keep your kid in an environment where drugs are being bought/sold...bad sh%t is bound to happen.
As dirty as the extremely biased article in the OP makes it sound, if you read the actual court documents their point is that the raid was conducted lawfully and per procedure and that the parents are responsible for their presence, and the child's presence, in a location where unlawful activity is/was occurring.
Edit: But it looks like they are getting a $1M payday anyway...win one for the taxpayers! Not.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/report-family-of-baby-bou-bou-county-reach-964k-se/nkzmb/